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Topic: 60 year old appliances (Read 3387 times)

Sydney Saunders, 83, and wife Rachel, 81, from Exeter, have a tumble dryer, water boiler, cooker and washing machine, all in recent working order.They bought some of the items when they got married in 1956 and have been using most of them since.

Considering I have yet to get more than about 6 years out of any major appliance (fridge, washing machine, TV etc) I'd say that these two have done pretty well!

My FIL built his house in '57 or '58, and while he's gone, his niece lives there with the original oven and cooktop. The A/C quit working at about the 55 year mark because no one could find a capacitor of the right type, but the old oil furnace was still working when it was removed for something more efficient 2 years ago. Pretty amazing.

And while we've had to do repairs on all of them, we have a 23 year old microwave/convection oven, a 19 year old range, and a 14 year old dishwasher in our house. Let's not speak of the HVAC, though.

My 1961 fridgidaire flaire stove is still churning out tons of great meals for our multigenerational family of 8. The ovens are not deep, but they are well insulated separate cubes. One is big and one is small, so I only heat the area I need.

I'm not old enough to have owned appliances for that long, but I do like my table saw that was built in the 60's. I bought it for $125, spent a bit more to extend the surface. Cat iron and steel, baby. No plastic structure!

Just got a 21 year old washing machine fixed for the first time. Small part that basically just wore out.

Planned obsolescence wasn't a thing apparently until comparatively recently? Now there's been a shifting mindset that you should throw out things for the new model every year, and the more bells and whistles the better. Older, workhorse stuff that is simple to repair and operate is now considered embarrassing somehow (at least that's what I've run into).

It's kind of sad/funny how it used to be new, but easily breakable/fragile and inexpensive... has slowly shifted to new, easily breakable/fragile and EXPENSIVE. Took about a decade for the retailers to train folks to accept this. Buy a new phone every year, break it, just get a new one since it's only a hundred/2hundred/5hundred... now $1K.

Same for appliances. Saw a washing machine model that had UV lights that blinked like a freaking disco, 20+ different settings, required a washing machine CLEANER, interior racks and hangers and had an upper "small load" chamber when you just want to wash that one shirt... all for the low price of $2,100 per unit. WTF is wrong with people thinking this is a good direction to head in?

Just got a 21 year old washing machine fixed for the first time. Small part that basically just wore out.

Planned obsolescence wasn't a thing apparently until comparatively recently? Now there's been a shifting mindset that you should throw out things for the new model every year, and the more bells and whistles the better. Older, workhorse stuff that is simple to repair and operate is now considered embarrassing somehow (at least that's what I've run into).

It's kind of sad/funny how it used to be new, but easily breakable/fragile and inexpensive... has slowly shifted to new, easily breakable/fragile and EXPENSIVE. Took about a decade for the retailers to train folks to accept this. Buy a new phone every year, break it, just get a new one since it's only a hundred/2hundred/5hundred... now $1K.

Same for appliances. Saw a washing machine model that had UV lights that blinked like a freaking disco, 20+ different settings, required a washing machine CLEANER, interior racks and hangers and had an upper "small load" chamber when you just want to wash that one shirt... all for the low price of $2,100 per unit. WTF is wrong with people thinking this is a good direction to head in?

Simple appliances are the way to go if you want them to last. They have the added benefit of not costing a ton up front either.

We made the mistake of getting a fancy side by side Samsung refrigerator back in 2010. Within three years, the freezer stopped working. We had a friend who had a similar issue with his french door Samsung. Apparently, Samsung was having some quality issues with their refrigerators. I don't know if it has improved since, but I'm not willing to spend the money to find out. We replaced ours with a pretty bare bones Whirlpool. No water dispenser, no water filter, no ice maker. Just a cold box with a door and frozen box with a door. We have had zero issues with it over the last 4 years.

Our 37 year old microwave just went belly-up today. Briefly considered having it fixed, but with how rough it is all the way around, plus how inexpensive newer nicer ones are I think we'll buy new in this case.

Our 37 year old microwave just went belly-up today. Briefly considered having it fixed, but with how rough it is all the way around, plus how inexpensive newer nicer ones are I think we'll buy new in this case.

If it's truly belly-up, then of course you have no choice, but be aware that the "nicer" newer ones are nicer on the surface only. If you go new, you'll be buying much more frequently than every 37 years.

A microwave oven will most definitely lose power over its lifetime, the laws of physics haven't changed in the last 40 years and the basic technology to generate microwaves from electricity is the same. Industrial kitchens will typically replace them every year or two for that reason. If you only use it for a few minutes per day at home, no reason why it couldn't last decades as long as you don't mind that it takes longer to heat something. It's either the door or the thing that rotates the food that tends to break.

My friends parents moved to the UK in 1947; they saved up for a car which they bought for cash in 1950 and they still use it, the only car they've ever owned. Most of their household appliances are of similar vintage. You need to be willing to fix stuff yourself though.

I thought it was common knowledge, that in the past they made things to last. Later the producers wanted to sell more and someone got the bright idea to produce appliances that are designed to not last forever.

My grandmother many years ago told stories about a relative who owned a Bosch refrigerator that had been transported from the Netherlands to Indonesia and many years later back again. It still worked fine after 30 years.

My refrigerators, including two from Miele, have all broken down after approx. 7 years. We bought Miele because it had a very good reputation. And we treated them correctly, like not turning them on soon after transport of any kind.

On our countertop is my in-laws' lovely chrome toaster that has been in CONTINUOUS DAILY USE since 1954! We have a 1940 Chambers gas stove that I have no doubt will be making my omelets long after many McMansion "commercial" stainless steel ranges are rotting in the landfill. When we remodeled the kitchen 10 years ago we bought all new Samsung appliances, and the dishwasher (which never cleaned well) broke after 3 years. Went to the Habitat store and bought a 20-year-old Kitchen Aid built like a tank for $35...yep, still running like a dream. Have a 40-year-old Maytag dryer. Dang, y'all, they really don't build it like they used to. Planned obsolescence is pretty evil. :(

If it's truly belly-up, then of course you have no choice, but be aware that the "nicer" newer ones are nicer on the surface only. If you go new, you'll be buying much more frequently than every 37 years.

It had a lot of issues. The front display hasn't worked right in a few years. Some buttons are broken. Some modes don't work. It's rusting. The power output was dropping and finally it just got to the point of only intermittently running. Oh, and the door is in bad shape. I'm normally more for fixing that type of stuff, but yeah, I think this one is a goner.

The only thing I would caution against is an older refrigerator. Current models might not be built as well, but they are much more efficient. Most other appliances don't really gain from efficiencies (with the possible exception of washing machines).

When we sold our last house, I sold a relatively new Craftsman table saw I had gotten from my father. When we finally moved into out current house, I found a vintage 80s Craftsman on Craigslist for $125. What a difference! The old one is cast iron instead of aluminum, a quiet belt drive instead of screaming direct drive, etc. etc.

Of course, you can still get decent saws - but you will pay a lot more for them, and you won't get them from Sears. It's not so much "planned obsolescence" as "people demand cheapness over durability, so we manufacture in China and cut all the corners we can"

At least stuff is cheap now. I remember a poster here talking about their 1950s stove and it was something like $3000 if you account for inflation. Now you can get a basic one for $400 new and a fancypants one for a grand.

The only truly old appliance I have is my gas stove, which I believe is from the 80s. My fridge is from 2001, which is apparently just new enough that replacing it on energy efficiency grounds doesn't pencil out. Washer/dryer are from 2011.

At least stuff is cheap now. I remember a poster here talking about their 1950s stove and it was something like $3000 if you account for inflation. Now you can get a basic one for $400 new and a fancypants one for a grand.

The only truly old appliance I have is my gas stove, which I believe is from the 80s. My fridge is from 2001, which is apparently just new enough that replacing it on energy efficiency grounds doesn't pencil out. Washer/dryer are from 2011.

I remember my Dad telling me that when his father got their first TV in the early 1950s, it cost $500 - in 1950s money! (over $5000 today). No wonder TV repair was a growth industry back then...

At least stuff is cheap now. I remember a poster here talking about their 1950s stove and it was something like $3000 if you account for inflation. Now you can get a basic one for $400 new and a fancypants one for a grand.

The only truly old appliance I have is my gas stove, which I believe is from the 80s. My fridge is from 2001, which is apparently just new enough that replacing it on energy efficiency grounds doesn't pencil out. Washer/dryer are from 2011.

I remember my Dad telling me that when his father got their first TV in the early 1950s, it cost $500 - in 1950s money! (over $5000 today). No wonder TV repair was a growth industry back then...

Yep! I bought our TV earlier this year for $229: a fancypants 43" 1080p Sharp with built in Roku so we can directly watch any streaming service. TVs in particular have become stupid cheap compared to even 5-10 years ago.

Nothing but vintage here, too. In fact, one of my side hustles is nationwide parts and repair of a certain brand of microwave oven, the 'good' models built from '67-'84.

To bostonjim's point about fridges, the worst efficiency models were typically early to mid-70's, full of defrost heaters, multiple doors and scant insulation. Just about anything before this that's non-frost-free is on par energy-wise with the latest models ('65 or before). The caveat is that you have to defrost the freezer once or twice a year, but I find it's a small price to pay for a lifetime appliance.

THere was a period of time, about 1995 to 2005ish, when the electronic market got flooded with bad electrolytic capacitors - mostly due to bad chemicals.Even Nippon Chemi-Con was hit for awhile. It’s better today, but i’d bet that most electronics failing today is still due to insuficient/badly temperature rated caps on the primary side of power supplies.

This also a good reason not to buy cheap “happy Sunshine Hangs Low” power supplies: they will destroy your appliance, commit suicide and then maybe set fire to your house.

Last trip on my ship, the phone charger of one of the sailors would set of a continuity alarm for the whole accommodation every time he plugged it in. On an oscilloscope that thing gave 5V that spiked like crazy, it’s a miracle the LiPo battery only got warm and did not explode. It certainly will reduce the life span of his phone as it’s regulators were never designed for this abuse.That 5$ piece of junk could have gotten him killed and/or fired!

Someone near us was renovating their kitchen, and we snagged their 2-3-year-old dishwasher for free. Compared to our old dishwasher, which is a spry 10 years old, the new one has probably 30% less capacity, in terms of how many dishes you can fit in it. I'm betting the smaller size is at least partly due to the tightening restrictions on water and energy use for appliances. ugh.

TheHusbandHalf and I were frugal when we married, and his Grandmother gave us a stove and refrigerator that were 30 years old. We used them, until the day I actually saw the refrigerator get hit by lightning, about 10 years. I called the insurance company and they told me I had to have a refrigerator guy come out, verifying it got hit by lightening, and then I could get a replacement, the same size. I asked, "Any brand?" Yep, just not bigger.

So a guy came out, he said "Honey, if you saw it get hit by lightening, then it got hit by lightning."